A very comfortable hotel with wonderful staff, a pleasant lounge and dining rooms. Lashings of hot water if a bit too hot. Evening meal very good, be nice to have a special on to add variety when staying multiple nights. Wonderful view of sea from room even though we never saw the otters swim by. Recommended

The quality of the breakfast for £15 pp is poor. Comparable hotels offer fruit salad, nuts, seeds, granola (not museli dust), Greek yoghurt, decent jams and marmalade ( not jelly type), quality bread (not processed sliced 'bread' ) and decaf coffee for same or less price. The staff said the jams were being changed. But they need to do more for those looking for a healthy option. And remember that the breakfast is the last thing a guest remembers of a hotel.

Staff are professional, friendly and very flexible. Work ethic is outstanding! Breakfast was very nice, eggs and porridge made to order. Wifi coverage and speed is very good. Rooms are super clean and well equipped. Beds are a bit small (I'd venture a guess at 135cm / 4ft 6) but super comfortable. Lovely and comfortable restaurant and bar on the premises. Adjacent to the bus station, plenty of restaurants and shops in the area and a car rental place. Free parking!

Our room on the second floor was very noise sensitive, creaking floors and running water due to some late check-ins and 4am check outs. As ceilings are pretty low, it's quite easy to inadvertently bump your head.

I love this hotel - the reception staff are exceptionally helpful and friendly. The lounge is comfortable and I always feel welcome to stay there after checking out when the ferry is still a while away. The bed is comfortable and the food in the restaurant is great - just remember to book for dinner as soon as possible as it fills up.

Housekeeping is very loud early in the morning - each morning on my previous two stays, I was woken between 0700-0730 by them shouting down the corridors and hitting things off the door. Additionally, the bed was not made by them when I came back, just some of my things moved around.

We liked the fact that the hotel was a larger property so it had it's own restaurant and bar area. It was also towards the edge of the central part of town, so very convenient to go to all the places we wanted to go to. Right across from the water and right in the front of the central area. Also a short walk to the grocery store, Tesco, so that was a nice perk.

We had two rooms and one of the rooms was spacious & bright, however the other room that was for 3 people was very cramped & a bit dark. So I suppose it depends on which room you get assigned.

The breakfast provided a good cooked breaffast as well as cereal, toast, yogurt etc. and I had a good meal in the restaurant one night. The rooms were perfectly adequate for me with a comfortable bed and an excellent desk chair and desk for someone like me who need to use it. The location on the harbour was suitable for getting out of town or in walking distance of most of the town centre. Last but not least the hotel staff were very helpful and friendly.

The heated breakfast trays dried out the eggs when the the demand was slow, which just needs a little more attention. The ongoing improvement works were a little noisy at times but should be over soon I understand.

The hotel location is very convenient when using a car: close to the city centre, but on the near side when coming from the Ferry Terminal at Stromness, and it has a parking for guests. The building seems older than its outside appearance led me to suspect, but it has been nicely renovated and is quite comfortable. On departure day, we wanted to leave the hotel very early in the morning to catch the first ferry back to Scrabster, and the staff were very happy to accommodate our request.

It's really a minor point but the bathroom felt a bit cramped. Also, the room window was unable to entirely block out the sound from the harbour just opposite -- but that proved not to be much of an issue, because most activity there stops in the evening.

Beautiful dining room & lounge, contemporary, comfortable & stylish. Food excellent, especially lunch & dinner. Staff friendly & helpful. Room wasn’t huge but very clean & comfortable. Blackout curtains so the light nights weren’t a problem for sleep.

Bedroom a little warm and although you could open the window (& we did during the day) traffic was going past outside so we didn’t at night. The only other negative thing was that we could have done with more than 3 plug sockets ( had to keep unplugging kettle to charge our phones!)

Very convenient location in Kirkwall, central to town and harbour. The room was very clean and comfortable, although not huge. The bed was quite nice, however, the pillows were lumpy! Bathroom was good with a large bath.

The price was a bit expensive, being UK350 pounds (about AU$664) for 2 nights, room only, no breakfast included. We paid an additional UK15 per person/day for breakfast. Also, the folder in the room needs to be updated with the correct times for breakfast. No room safe.

I was worried that the hotel would be hard to find, as we left the ferry at 11:30pm, however the drive was simple and the building was well lit and well signed. The staff were cheery and pleasant despite working in the middle of the night. We rented an apartment for the night for four of us, and it was way more than we needed. Very clean, shower was great and beds were comfy. Breakfast the next morning was ample and efficient, just what we were looking for to start our day. I highly recommend this place.

The Ayre hotel is a very good accommodation option in Kirkwall, close to the ferry port and to the town centre. There is also convenient onsite parking. Our room was spacious and quite comfortable. Staff were very helpful. The bar and restaurant, which look recently renovated, were also very nice, both for breakfast and dinner.

The ensuite bathroom had no ventilation and got extremely uncomfortable very quickly. The extractor fan didn't seem to work properly.